Rachel Katz: The Peace Corps in Peru
Like any other college senior, Rachel Katz struggled with the idea of post-grad. As a Psychology and Global Health major at Duke University, Katz knew that she wanted to travel and learn more about in-depth health issues around the world, but wasn’t exactly sure how that translated into a job. The summer before her senior year, Katz participated in a global health research program and got the idea to look into the Peace Corps. About a year later and after a rigorous application process, Katz was accepted into the Peace Corps, and headed off to Peru.
When Katz joined the Peace Corps, she immediately felt like she had found her place. In this two year program, Katz first had to accomplish three months of intensive language training in Spanish and the indeginious Quechua language in order to prepare for her new life in Peru.
Katz has been with the Peace Corps in Peru for about a year now as a community health volunteer. Her two main projects focus on anemia in children under the age of 3, working with moms to lower anemia rates in children, and working at the local high school where Katz teaches topics such as preventing alcohol abuse and sex education.
A typical day in Katz’s life includes waking up at 6:30 a.m. every morning and having breakfast with her host family. After that, she’s off to plan or teach a session with her coworkers. Then, Katz walks to different houses to teach and spend time with the women in the village, bring them medication, and check hemoglobin levels. Katz then gets to spend some time with the kids at the health post, and helps the health promoters in the daycare by teaching kids how to draw or making them food. By around 1:30 p.m., Katz has lunch with her host family, heads back to the school or health post for a few hours, and then reads, knits, or spends time in the village until dinner at 8:00 p.m.
One of Katz’s favorite experiences from her time in Peru has been interacting with and learning from her students. Part of Katz’s job involves teaching a sex education and gender and sexuality course. Since Peru is a Catholic country, Katz explained that there is a little bit of pushback when it comes to the courses that she teaches, and that’s her job to do some “myth-busting.” In her class, Katz talks about aspects of gender equality and sexuality that are normally not discussed in her village. However, much to her surprise, her students were very accepting of the material Katz introduced to them.
“They’re not as set in their beliefs as some of the adults,” Katz explained. “They’re quick to think good things and to want to treat people the same.”
Although Katz has loved her experience in Peru, there are definitely some obstacles that Katz has had to face. The concept of “machismo,” which Katz described as essentially sexism, is still very much at the forefront of Peruvian culture. According to Katz, when elements of machismo surface in her work and personal life in Peru, it can be very frustrating. Katz feels that as a woman in her community, she is always expected to smile, serve food, endure catcalling, and take extra precautions in her day-to-day life. “I don’t drink alcohol here to be safe, and most of my male peers do because they can,” Katz explained. Although Katz feels safe in her community, “It’s mostly just to be more conscious.”
Although the presence of machismo can be frustrating, Katz said that there is definitely an advantage to being a woman in her community. Since Katz’s job involves spending time with and educating women, Katz explained that oftentimes women in the community feel more comfortable talking to her about certain topics than they would with the male volunteers.
Ultimately, Katz said that her comfort zone has grown the most when she was put in situations that she felt a little unsure of.
“No matter what you do, try to push yourself out of your comfort zone, because once you do, it’ll grow and then you’ll be able to confidently do so many more things.”
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